Chapter 21
The conversation around Hadley stopped. Chairs scraped against the floor as people stood. Every face in the room changed at once.
Max, Caleb, Wyatt, and Micah were already heading toward the back door.
“Lock up behind us,” Caleb called. “We’re leaving the dogs with you as a precaution.”
“Got it,” Naomi said before rushing to check the rest of the doors.
When the men were gone and the house secure, the women glanced at each other. Ruby held Baby Grace, who’d woken up. She bounced the child in her arms as silent questions hung in the air.
“It’s probably nothing.” Aunt Ruby’s tone remained calm. “Motion sensors get tripped all the time. Deer, raccoons . . . even the wind sometimes.”
Hadley nodded, but the reassurance didn’t settle her nerves.
Maybe it should have.
But after everything that had happened this week, the alert didn’t feel like nothing.
Naomi’s brows drew together. “I don’t like the idea that someone could be back there.”
“It could have been anything,” Aunt Ruby said again. “No need to always think worst-case scenarios. God’s got it all in His hands.”
Hadley’s gaze drifted toward the window and the darkness beyond it. God did have everything under control.
But someone could still be out there. And if they were, it most likely wasn’t for noble reasons.
Anxiety tried to grip her.
She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to push her worry away. This place was supposed to be safe. That was the whole point of Refuge Cove.
But safety felt thin right now as if it had been stretched too taut.
Max headed straight toward the back of the property with the rest of the men. They spread out so they could each take a different area.
The backyard lights cast long shadows across the ground, stretching toward the woods. Everything beyond that fell into darkness.
For a moment, nothing moved.
There were no sounds. No shift in the branches. No signs that anything had been there at all.
It could’ve been an animal. A deer or a raccoon. That happened sometimes.
But it was wise to remain on guard.
Max slowed as he reached the edge of the yard. His gaze swept the area again, more carefully this time.
The ground was uneven, and the snow had been disturbed in places. But nothing stood out enough to tell him what had alerted the sensor.
He listened, holding still long enough to catch even the smallest sound.
“You see anything?” Sheriff Sutherland asked.
“Nothing,” Caleb answered from the left.
“Me neither,” Max said.
“Same here,” Wyatt called.
Sheriff Sutherland headed back toward him, scanning the ground as he walked. “I don’t see any clear tracks. At least nothing I can trust in this light.”
Max glanced back toward the house. Everyone inside thought this place was safe. It was supposed to be a refuge.
He was committed to making sure that remained true.
Caleb stepped closer, his attention still on the woods. “We’ll check again in the morning when it will be easier to see what we’re dealing with.”
Just then, a crack split through the trees. Wood breaking. A branch snapping.
Like a footstep.
Max snapped his gaze toward the sound.
The noise had come from deeper in the woods, off to the right.
“Someone’s out there,” Sheriff Sutherland muttered.
They all pushed forward, crossing the edge of the yard and into the trees.
The ground shifted beneath Max’s boots, and branches brushed against his shoulders. He angled to the right, trying to cut off the path.
As he did, he scanned for any sign of a figure between the trees.
For a second, he thought he saw a shape slipping past a trunk.
But whatever it was disappeared before he could be sure.
“Spread out,” Sheriff Sutherland said behind him.
Max adjusted his direction. The woods swallowed sounds, making it hard to track. Every step felt like it came too late.
He slowed after a few more yards, straining to hear something—footsteps, breathing, anything. But the noise had stopped as suddenly as it had started.
Nothing moved.
Nothing followed.
Max straightened, his breath heavier now. He scanned the area one more time.
Whoever had been out there knew these woods. Knew how to disappear before they could close the distance.
Caleb stepped up beside him, his gaze moving across the trees. “You see anything?”
Max shook his head. “No.”
Sheriff Sutherland joined them a second later, his expression set. “Same here.”
Max dragged a hand over the back of his neck, his jaw tightening as he looked back toward the direction they’d come from.
Had that been Kenny? Travis?
Either way, someone had been out there . . . someone who didn’t want to be seen.